New Brunswick Water Department workers charged

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Two New Brunswick Water Department workers have been charged with conspiracy, official misconduct, bribery in official and political matters, and tampering with public records or information.(Photo: ~File)

NEW BRUNSWICK - A meter reader and a senior account clerk for the New Brunswick Water Department were indicted Friday on charges that they conspired to reduce a customer’s water and sewer bills dramatically in return for a $4,200 bribe, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said in a statement.

They also are charged with conspiring to solicit a $1,000 bribe from another customer in exchange for replacing the customer’s water meter with a defective meter that would not register water usage, the statement said.

The Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau obtained a state grand jury indictment charging the meter reader, William “Billi” Ortiz, 55, of North Brunswick, and the senior account clerk, Joseph “Gordo” DeBonis, 55, of Toms River, with conspiracy, official misconduct, bribery in official and political matters, all second-degree offenses, and tampering with public records or information, a third-degree offense.

Both men were suspended from their jobs with the New Brunswick Water Department after they were initially charged in the case Nov. 30, 2016.

In the first alleged scheme, the investigation revealed that in November 2016, Ortiz allegedly accepted a bribe of $4,200 in exchange for arranging the reduction of water and sewer bills for a customer who owned multiple properties. Ortiz allegedly arranged the bill reductions through DeBonis, who had access as a senior account clerk to the city’s water and sewer database.

It is alleged that after Ortiz received the bribe, he provided DeBonis with information about the customer’s properties, and DeBonis allegedly modified the customer’s water and sewer bills to dramatically reduce the charges. The bills were falsified to reduce the water and sewer fees approximately 90 percent, the statement said.

Ortiz and DeBonis allegedly conspired in a previous scheme in 2014, when Ortiz allegedly solicited a $1,000 bribe from a customer, in exchange for offering to switch out the customer’s water meter and install a faulty meter — which he nicknamed the “thief” — that would keep the customer’s bill down by failing to record water usage.

Ortiz allegedly told the customer that a properly working meter should be swapped back near the end of the month, so the bill would not be suspiciously low.

Each of the second-degree charges in the indictment carries a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison, including a mandatory five-year period of parole ineligibility, and a fine of up to $150,000. The third-degree charge carries a sentence of three to five years in state prison, including a mandatory two-year period of parole ineligibility, and a fine of up to $15,000.

The indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson in Mercer County, who assigned the case to Union County, where the defendants will be ordered to appear in court for arraignment at a later date.

“Ortiz and DeBonis had a duty to ensure water customers were properly billed based on accurate readings, but we allege they corruptly solicited bribes in return for falsifying bills and meter readings,” Porrino said in the statement. “When public employees like Ortiz and DeBonis allegedly take bribes for special treatment, trust in government is undermined and the public ends up footing the bill.”

“We allege that Ortiz and DeBonis took bribes to manipulate water bills at both ends of the billing process: at the meter and in the database used to generate bills,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We will continue to aggressively prosecute any public employees who corruptly use their positions for personal gain.”

Anyone with specific knowledge of the alleged schemes, or similar schemes, perpetrated by Ortiz and DeBonis, or with involvement in such schemes, is urged to contact the Division of Criminal Justice confidentially at 866-TIPS-4CJ.

Attorney General Porrino and Director Honig noted that individuals who report public corruption may be able to receive up to a $25,000 reward. The Division of Criminal Justice has a toll-free tip line 866-TIPS-4CJ for the public to confidentially report public corruption. Information on the Public Corruption Reward Program is posted at http://www.nj.gov/oag/corruption/reward-info.html.